VACATIONS MAKE YOUR KIDS HAPPY LONG AFTER THEY’RE OVER

Heather Marcoux

Whether you’re booking flights and hotels for a family getaway, or just punching in your credit card number to reserve a spot in a campground a couple of states over, the cost of vacation plans can make a mom wince. And while price is definitely something to consider when planning a family vacation, science suggests we should consider these trips—and their benefits—priceless.

Research indicates that family vacations are essential. They make our kids (and us) happier and build bonds and memories.

The gift of an experience, like a family vacation, is proven to be a more prosocial, connecting present than any material possession, according to a study out of the University of Toronto.

Like this:

10 MINI-TRADITIONS THAT WILL BRING YOUR FAMILY TOGETHER

Courtnie Erickson

The family fun won’t stop with these 10 easy family traditions.

“A family that plays together stays together,” isn’t just a popular saying, it is true. When you do things together as a family, you build friendships and create memories that will last even when those hard times come. And you don’t have to plan big events either. You can create small family traditions that will last through the years and be something your children look forward to.

Here are 10 mini-traditions that take little time but create something powerful:

THE GREATER GIFT CAME LATER

Donna Miller

My husband was seriously injured at work in August 2002. He was unable to work for about six months. Much of his income is from overtime and his disability pay did not equal even 25 percent of the income we count on. We have five children and this was a massive loss of income for our family. It became necessary for me to work a second full-time job.

Most days I went to my teaching job at 7:00 a.m., went to my second job as a cashier at a local retail store at 4:00 p.m., and dragged myself home around midnight, knowing I had to do the same thing the next day. I still had to do lesson planning and somehow squeeze in family time. I worked seven days a week, and was rarely home. My youngest child, seven years old at the time, missed me so much that he started carrying a picture of me to school in his pocket.

Until then, I’d been very active in my church. But I became too busy for most of my church life and missed many meetings. Word spread about our situation, and I received many calls with words of encouragement and emotional support from fellow church members.

BREADWINNING MOTHERS CARRY THE MENTAL LOAD AT HOME

Angela Anagnost Repke

Mothers everywhere are increasingly the breadwinners. This title looks great on paper, but with it our “mental load” gets only heavier. When my son was first born I, too, fit that role. I would wake up, feed my baby, take him to his grandparent’s, teach all day, pick up my son, and then do all of the evening stuff at home. My weekends were filled with grading papers, cleaning, meal-prep, and one squeezed-in activity with family or friends.

Sleeping was difficult. My head would rest on the pillow, but the to-do list piled up like a stack of books, keeping my eyelids open. I never felt caught-up. After reading some recent research, turns out, I wasn’t alone in accumulating this “mental load.”

Like this:

If you’ve struggled with these issues, it may or may not be comforting to know that the most common causes of conflict within marriages and intimate relationships are sex and money. For many people, they’re understandably immediately concerned with how their own lives are playing out. For many others, they still have that immediate concern, but they also can take solace from the fact that they’re not alone and that their struggles are not unusual.

Regardless of where you stand on the comfort-little comfort spectrum, it is true that when couples have lasting or recurring fights, power struggles about money frequently tops the list.

Like this:

“The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” – Proverbs 12:15

When John Benson decided to make some financial investments in a new business venture, he was very excited about the possibilities for a handsome financial return. His business and financial background had served him well. John felt strongly that his wife Jenny would not understand the complexity of his investment, so he casually mentioned it to her. When she asked a few simple questions, John became defensive and justified his plans for investing in the venture.

A year later, after investing a large sum of money, John received a phone call from the investment company. All the investors who had put money in the company were going to lose their investment with no ability to recoup it.

Like this:

“The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” – Proverbs 12:15

When John Benson decided to make some financial investments in a new business venture, he was very excited about the possibilities for a handsome financial return. His business and financial background had served him well. John felt strongly that his wife Jenny would not understand the complexity of his investment, so he casually mentioned it to her. When she asked a few simple questions, John became defensive and justified his plans for investing in the venture.

A year later, after investing a large sum of money, John received a phone call from the investment company. All the investors who had put money in the company were going to lose their investment with no ability to recoup it.

Sometimes we have those days, or weeks or years. Life can be challenging. That is the point of it. God put us on earth so we could learn by experience, and that means experiencing hard things.

But God loves us and wants us to succeed. In fact, he knows that we can. He has not left us without the resources for success. Through prayer, grace and service, he has given us tools to triumph over challenging times.

Here are three things God wants us to know when we are in the midst of dark times:

Like this:

WHY MONEY CAUSES SO MUCH FRICTION IN MARRIAGE

Joy Ehonwa

The popular saying “no romance without finance” sometimes gives the impression that lack of money is what causes financial issues in marriage. After all, we know that marrying a dreamer who enjoys talking big without corresponding action, or who counts his chicks before they are hatched, is setting oneself up for a marriage fraught with disappointment and frustration. However, while it is true that not having enough money can and does put strain on marriage, money issues in this honourable institution go way beyond that.You may know people who have little, and still, make the best of it and live happily together, and others who have a lot and yet squabble over money all the time. The truth is that when it comes to money, we all have different personalities, value systems, and emotional associations. Growing up poor, growing up with a lot, being born into wealth and then experiencing poverty along the way… so many factors contribute to why people are the way they are about money. This is perfectly okay except that not many couples take the time to understand each other’s views about money, and come to terms with it, before tying the knot.